Nubatama no ime ni wa motona aimiredo tada ni araneba koi yamazukeri

ぬばたまの夢にはもとな相見れど
直にあらねば恋ひやまずけり

Roma-ji: Nubatama no ime ni wa motona aimiredo tada ni araneba koi yamazukeri
English Translation: In jet-black night's dreams
again and again for nothing
we come face to face,
but since it is not in truth,
my longing never ceases
Meaning: In my dreams we meet again and again to no purpose, but since it is not face to face, my longing never ends.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3980

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Envoy to a poem, with tanka, setting forth my longing"
They meet often in dreams, but not in person, so his longing does not cease—a poem lamenting the gap between dream and reality. This is an envoy to the chōka Yakamochi composed on the night of the twentieth day of the third month of 747, when longing for the wife he had left in the capital suddenly welled up. The chōka tells how, since he came down to Etchū by royal command, the year has turned and the spring flowers faded without their meeting; how, though he sees her in dreams, longing has piled up for want of meeting in waking life; and how, when the month of the hototogisu comes, he hopes to go by the Ōmi road to his house in Nara and quickly meet his wife, who stands at the gate waiting. Taking up "though I see you in dreams, it is not in waking life" from the chōka, it tells of longing that grows the more for meeting only in dreams.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. Appointed Governor of Etchū in 746, he spent five years there, later serving as Junior Counselor and Governor of Inaba before rising to Middle Counselor. He is thought to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū.
The left note reads, "The above was composed when longing suddenly arose in the night of the twentieth day of the third month. Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi."

First line, "nubatama no": a pillow word for night and dreams.
Second line, "ime ni wa motona": motona means "needlessly, over and over," of dreaming of her unbidden again and again.
Third line, "aimiredo": "though we meet," running on adversatively.
Fourth line, "tada ni araneba": "since it is not face to face," the same expression as "utsutsu ni shi tada ni araneba" in the chōka.
Fifth line, "koi yamazukeri": "my longing does not stop," keri voicing realization. The next poem, 3981, tells why she appears in his dreams, so the two are linked by dreams.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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